Recharge Roundtable Call to Action: Key Steps for Replenishing California Groundwater

The age of tacitly treating groundwater as primarily an extractive resource is over, both for California and the rest of the world. This will require vastly more managed aquifer recharge than ever previously imagined. It was in this spirit of profound concern for the future of not only groundwater resources, but also for water security and sustainability in general, that on October 2, 2017 the Groundwater Resources Association of California (GRA) and the University of California Water Security and Sustainability Research Initiative (UC Water) convened the Recharge Roundtable in Sacramento.

The Recharge Roundtable consisted of 50 attendees with a diverse cross-section of disciplines and professions, including water managers, consultants, academics, hydrologists, and social scientists. The strong experience and expertise assembled in this group, together with the sincere interest in solving a daunting water challenge, made the meeting very productive and led to the proposed actions included in this document.